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AN AUSTRALIAN airline said Friday it had found a sustainable alternative to aviation fuel that was more economical and efficient and cut an aircraft’s carbon emissions: recycled cooking oil.
Officials of Qantas airline said an Airbus A330 left Sydney for Adelaide on Friday using a 50-50 mixture of recycled cooking oil and regular jet fuel in what could have been the first biofuel commercial flight, according to reports culled from various wire agencies including the Australian Associated Press.
Biofuel flight. A Qantas plane on Friday flew on cooking oil and aviation fuel.
Flight captain Phil Davenport told reporters on arrival at Adelaide that the aircraft handled the same as any other.
“There was no real difference on the way over, apart from a a very slight reduction in the fuel flows on the engine that was using it, which basically means it was more economical and more efficient than the normal fuel,” Davenport said.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the Federal government had given the airline $500,000 to finance a study into the feasibility of alternative aviation biofuels, which the airline industry needed to face the immediate challenges ahead.
“We need to get ready for a future that is not based on traditional jet fuel, or frankly we don’t have a future,” Joyce said.
He said the use of biofuel was an important step in confronting the major challenge of high fuel prices and the aviation industry’s goal of being carbon-neutral by 2020.
“And it’s not just the price of oil that’s the issue. It’s also the price of carbon,” Joyce said.
“From July, Qantas will be the only airline in the world to face liabilities in three jurisdictions,
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=...oking-oil/
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